Luminaries who have inaugurated the Pune Festivals include film Superstar Aishwarya Rai, Late Shri Shankar Dayal Sharma, Shri Amitabh Bachchan, Shri Dilip Kumar, Shri PC Alexander, Shri KR Narayan, Smt. Hema Malini, Shri Manohar Joshi, & Shri RK Hegde.

The inauguration ceremony of the Pune Festival 2005 will be done at the hands Smt. Renuka Choudhury, Minister Of Tourism, Govt. Of India, on September 09, 2005.

Pune's top personalities are expected to be in attendance and Mr. Suresh Kalmadi, the driving force behind Pune Festival, will celebrate the 17th inauguration in 17 years - a string of unbroken celebrations.

This year promises to put Pune on the world tourism map as ambassadors, high commissioners and consul- generals of

• China,
• Germany,
• Italy,
• Hungary,
• Argentina,
• Australia,
• Malaysia,
• South Africa,
• USA and
• Russia

  are expected at opening ceremony.

The inauguration ceremoney will be held at 4:30 PM on September 09, 2005 at the Ganesh Kala Krida Rangmanch. Although attendance is free, please ensure that you have the complementary passes for entry - due to the massive crowd expected it won't be possible to gain entry without the passes.

Update:

"Pune cultural festival inaugurated" (by PTI): The 17th Pune festival got a robust start with a series of dance dramas, including by well-known actresses Meenakshi Sheshadri and Isha Sharvani that brought hundreds of audience face to face with history and modernity with a dash.

The festival, which would conclude on September 17, was inaugurated by Union tourism minister Renuka Chowdhury in the presence of Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of Pune festival, member of parliament, Anand Sharma, congress party spokesperson and ambassadors and high commissioners of China, Myanmar, Italy, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, Russia and Germany.

Speaking on the occasion, Chowdhury said that India was an incredible country and its rich cultural heritage should be shown to the world. She also laid stress on empowering women and educating the girl child.

The Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Yuxi may send his daughter, who is finishing her BA at Oxford, to Pune for higher studies; the Australian High Commissioner talked cricket with his South African counterpart S F Moloi; Italian Ambassador Antino Armellini took a potshot at both, saying his country preferred to play with a larger ball for smaller periods of time (soccer for the uninitiated). Wit and humour, some serious trade talk, a discovery of Pune — here to attend the Suresh Kalmadi-organised Pune festival, the MCCIA and Pune Vyaspeeth hosted eight diplomats who didn’t disappoint a full house on a Saturday evening.

Each ambassador/high commissioner spoke of their ‘hot’ trade potential areas — from automotive, agro-processing, infrastructure, education, power — yes, they have done their homework all right. For example Australia’s McCarthy said Pune could avail of his country’s expertise in construction, niche areas in IT, education; Moloi of South Africa exhorted Indians to teach South Africans the skill of polishing diamonds and so forth.

‘‘We are no longer rivals, we are partners. We are not enemies, we are friends,’’ Sun Yuxi took the stage first, pointing out that the border dispute ‘‘left over from history’’ was no longer in the way of the overall development of Sino-India relations. ‘‘The border will not divide us, but tie us together,’’ Sun said to thunderous applause. He promised not to leave India before it became the largest trade partner of China, edging out the US. The target is to reach $ 30 billion by 2010 (now it’s $13 billion). Want to be successful the Chinese way? ‘‘You must do things at the right time and at the right place and choose the right people,’’ Sun said, adding that that place is China.

As trade partners, the other countries being represented — Italy, Germany, Australia, Russia, South Africa, Malaysia, Myanmar — paled in comparison. For instance, South Africa’s trade with India amounts to only $2.4 billion and Myanmar’s only $ 1 million. But everyone promised to make Pune a compulsory stop next time big business and political delegations visited India.